Asheville, North Carolina News

Archive for the ‘banks’ Category

ASHEVILLE, NC – William W. Nesbit III, Senior Vice President, Branch Administrator and Commercial Lending Officer, has been named to the board of directors of Handmade in America, the nationally recognized organization for promoting craft and culture for community and economic development.

Nesbit joined Bank of Asheville when it was founded in 1997. A native of Salisbury, he is a graduate of UNC-Charlotte and last year graduated from the North Carolina Bankers Association School of Banking.

Active in civic and professional affairs, Nesbit is a former board chair of Mountain BizWorks and continues to serve on the loan committee for Mountain BizCapital. He lives in West Asheville with his wife and two children.

Bank of Asheville has been recognized as the top community bank in Western North Carolina and one of the strongest banks in the United States. It has five offices in Buncombe County – downtown Asheville, Candler, Leicester, Reynolds and South Asheville.

Founded in 1993, Handmade in America is a nonprofit organization promoting craft and culture for community and economic development in Western North Carolina. It has served as a model for similar programs nationally and internationally.

ASHEVILLE, NC – Starting Monday, April 13, Capital Bank will hand out cash to fans during Mega Money Mondays at every Asheville Tourists Monday night home game this season, The first 750 adults through the gate receive an envelope containing between $1 and $100 in cash. There are also prizes in some of the envelopes, including Tourists tickets.

On top of that, should the Asheville starting pitcher throw a perfect game on a Monday home game, every fan in attendance at the contest will divide $1,000,000, courtesy of Capital Bank.

“This is our opportunity to bring even more excitement to an already fun night out at McCormick Field,” said Al Davis, senior vice president and western region executive. “We know every bit of extra cash helps and we’re proud to support the fans and the Tourists team with the much anticipated Mega Money Mondays.”

Fans are also encouraged to stop by one of Capital Bank’s four Asheville-area locations to sign up to win the Family VIP Experience which includes four VIP tickets to each Monday home game, along with food and drinks in the clubhouse luxury box, the opportunity to throw out the first pitch, a souvenir photo with Teddy Tourist, VIP parking pass and a Tourists gift bag.

A winner will be chosen each Friday before the next Monday game. Capital Bank’s Mega Mondays are April 13 (opening night), April 20, May 11, May 18, June 15, July 6 and July 27.

“It’s understandable why few promotions have generated more anticipation and created more positive response from the Tourists’ fans since the team announced Capital Bank’s promotion in March,” said Chris Smith, the Tourists assistant general manager and community liaison. “Capital Bank has been a great sponsor for the last few years of the Tourists and this time they have gone above and beyond in generating enthusiasm at the ballpark.”

ASHEVILE, NC – For the quarter ended 12/31/08, Weststar Financial Services Corporation, parent company of The Bank of Asheville, was ranked fourth in performance and 17th in valuation out of 38 banks in North Carolina by Davenport and Company, LLC in their Davenport Community Bank Quarterly. Financial institutions included in the report ranged in size from $64 million to $1.8 trillion. Davenport’s model is somewhat similar to bank regulators’ CAMELS System, which evaluates a bank’s financial condition in six areas: Capital, Asset Quality, Management, Earnings, Liquidity and Sensitivity to Market Risk. Their methodology ranked banks according to five categories: profitability, capital, liquidity, asset quality and valuation. The first four categories address company fundamentals and are combined to establish a performance ranking. The valuation ranking is based on price to book value, price to last twelve months earnings and dividend yield.

Bank of Asheville exceeded the median in all five ratios used for computing profitability: return on assets, return on equity, efficiency, operating revenue growth and net earnings per share growth. For capital ratios, the Bank exceeded the median in loan loss reserve to loans and tangible equity to assets. The Bank also outperformed its peers in all categories of asset quality, and one of the two liquidity measures (borrowings/deposits + borrowings).

Gordon Greenwood, President and CEO stated, “We are extremely pleased with the results reflected in the Davenport Report, which evaluates banks in a number of areas other than growth in assets. This report confirms our values and goals in establishing a financial institution for the long-term that provides above market return to our shareholders, exceptional quality service for our customers, and rewarding career opportunities to our associates. We thank our customers, shareholders and associates for their support that has made it possible for us to achieve these results. We remain committed to the future as the local community bank and in the opportunities that will be available to improve upon these accomplishments of past years.”

ASHEVILLE, NC – For the 9th consecutive quarter, Bank of Asheville announced that it has once again earned the prestigious BauerFinancial, Inc.’s highest ratings – 5-Stars. Under BauerFinancial’s rating system, five stars denote the absolute highest level of banking performance. Less than one third of the nation’s banks are branded as such. The award is based upon an analysis of current financial data as supplied by federal banking regulators and compared with previous historical data for consistency.

“Congratulations to all our employees and directors, who have made it possible for Bank of Asheville to achieve this honor,” stated G. Gordon Greenwood, President and CEO. “In a time of national economic uncertainty, this rating reflects our strength and commitment to our employees, communities, shareholders and stakeholders.”